Gaucho Strong

Turning to this for the same reason I started blogging in the first place: There are a lot of things I want to say and I don’t feel like sharing it with people I know personally that follow me on all my other social media.

As the shooting that happened on Friday night at my school, right down the street from me, has unfolded, my thoughts have developed and I’m left with the kind of frustration that I needa write out.

When I first became aware of what was going on, it was something that was happening to my neighborhood, my school and my friends. I didn’t realize it would become a huge news event until the next morning. I didn’t realize it would become a worldwide story, historical event that would inspire a trending topic on twitter. I didn’t expect people from all over to be reaching out. It still hasn’t hit me, the gravity of the tragedy.

What hit me first was complete horror. Knowing that one thing could have gone differently and tons of girls that I know would be dead. Two things could have gone differently and all my best friends could have been dead.

Then what hit me was complete sadness. Strangely enough, it broke my heart that someone, anyone, more than one person could be so sad. It breaks my heart that so many people are desperate for love and it breaks my heart even more that they don’t know where to find it. It makes me want to be kind to everyone. Events like this are inexcusable, but all human beings are subject to pain and as human beings we should do everything we can to put on love for everyone else, because it’s only fair.

Then what hit me was logic. And disgust that after events like this, there are still people that defend the country’s weapon laws that make it so easy for crazed citizens to get their hands on guns and kill people. There are citizens of the United States that defend laws that allow multiple innocent people to die. Yes, it’s a right in our constitution, and no you may not personally have any foul intentions, but in order for you to have that right, everyone else, even the mentally ill must be allowed that right too. Can’t you surrender this one right selflessly in order to prevent the weapon that you may handle appropriately from falling in to the hands of someone else that will use it to murder innocent people?

2 thing factor in to the massacre equation: mental illness and weapons. There is no law to stop people from becoming mentally ill. Nobody can prevent that. But we can pass a law to prevent weapons from falling in to the hands of the wrong person. That removes half of the equation. The half that completes the violence.

I don’t understand when people think that their safety is a valid argument against control. These things fall under the category of safe: alarm systems, locks on the door, security cameras, law enforcement. These things kill people: guns. If you want to be safe in your home, buy a bullet proof vest. If you want to kill people, buy a gun.

Next I felt empowered, but disgusted at the same time. #YesAllWomen started trending on twitter. I’ve always felt strongly that the title of being a woman should not restrict anyone from anything, but not come with a sense of entitlement either. When this started trending, people retaliated, thinking that women were looking for a sense of entitlement. I think some of them are confused. But regardless, there is no denying that women fall victim of crimes, violence, judgment, and harassment, simply because they are women. And that’s what’s wrong.

I understand that people everywhere, both men and women are victims of a multitude of crimes, but it becomes a problem for me when the core of the crime is a direct result of someone’s sexuality. It’s a problem for me when someone’s competence, intelligence, worthiness, or strength is judge based on their sexuality. I don’t want special privileges because I’m a woman, I don’t believe I deserve anything more than any man simply because I am a woman, but I want to earn my privileges and worth through the eyes of a blind society, and be judged strictly on my actions and my heart, completely separate from my gender.

But how could it not be a problem for anyone when men are targeting and blaming all women everywhere, for their sad lives? That’s sick. What I know now is that this tragedy continues to be something bigger. Bigger than a scary thing happening outside, bigger than a news story, bigger than a trending topic, bigger than an issue of feminism. It became about judging women, then blaming them, then stereotyping them, then the commonality of rape, then domestic violence.

That’s the thing about tragedies like this, nothing is ever the same. What I do know is that my generation, my school, and my peers won’t let it be the same, they will make it better. These issues need to be changed. They needed to be brought up, they needed to be talked about and they will be changed.